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Cricketers get the boot from Punt Road Oval

Caroline Wilson

RICHMOND'S decade-long campaign to remove cricket from the Punt Road Oval has been won with the Tigers' Premier cricket co-tenant to move early next year to Mount Waverley's Central Reserve.

The Richmond Cricket Club has reached the historic agreement after intervention from the Premier, John Brumby, with the Victorian Government agreeing to help fund the move and sponsor the redevelopment of a new facility at Mount Waverley.

With the Tigers due to move into their own rebuilt facilities at Punt Road before Christmas, the oval is expected to have the wicket area dug up in the new year with the footballers then able to train throughout the year at their headquarters and no longer have to avoid the middle of the ground.

The new deal for the cricket club will be announced today and has come with the help of the AFL and the City of Monash, as well as the State Government. Monash will now play home to the moved team, which has long held the lease at the Punt Road Oval and for years refused to budge in a damaging partnership between the two sports.

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The move will pave the way for the Tigers to complete their push for AFL-adequate training facilities with the next step in chief executive Brendon Gale's ambitious plans for the club to increase the size of Punt Road to that of Etihad Stadium, along with the removal of not only the centre wicket area but the practice wickets. Shortly before Gale took over as chief executive, Richmond believed it had reached a deal with Yarra Council to move the cricket club to Victoria Park, a move stymied at the last minute when Collingwood reached a deal with the local council for the Magpies' VFL team to play their home games at the old Collingwood ground.

The Tigers' coup leaves Essendon as the only AFL club still forced to share with cricket. The Bombers were on the verge of an agreement to move the Essendon Cricket Club but could not reach a deal with the local bowling club and are now expected to leave Windy Hill for a new home with the Essendon Airport site favoured.

North Melbourne, which completed its new training facilities last year, struck a deal with its local cricket club that saw it moved and the pitch removed as a result.

The Tigers will continue to train at Punt Road over the summer avoiding the wicket area, and also holding sessions at the club's new outer suburban home at Craigieburn and using Monash University and Trinity Grammar when necessary.

The claiming of the Punt Road Oval by the Tigers was seen as near impossible several years ago but has been achieved thanks to Richmond Cricket Club president Ken Sharp, who has co-operated with his AFL co-tenant to end years of enmity, along with Gale's No. 2, Michael Stahl.

While the new oval is not expected to be redeveloped in time for the 2011 pre-season, the club's new $20 million training centre will be. The Tigers remain hopeful of an MCG-friendly fixture for next season to be announced on Friday.

With a home game against Port Adelaide in Darwin and another against the Gold Coast in Cairns, Richmond has requested the rest of its home games at the MCG. It looks sure to play Carlton in the season opener.